Impressions

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In my first venture into the already month-old summer season, I managed to watch the first four episodes of Kanamemo on Crunchyroll and found it to be okay but lacking enough consistent entertainment value for me to keep up with it on a regular basis.

Even though I didn’t mention this show among those I was initially interested in, I figured I’d give it a look since it deals with newspaper delivery. It is also being simulcast, which means less work for me. The strategy the chief, Saki, uses to reel in new subscribers and the notations on route books were interesting to me and so was the girls’ use of a “we are working girls” song to promote the newspaper, albeit while wearing bathing suits in the midst of camera-gripping older men. (They should think of making that into a commercial, though.) However, some of the characters worked against my attempt to actively enjoy watching it.

I’m referring to Haruka, the biofermentation student who frequently imbibes and has a disturbing overaffection for newcomer Kana, fantasizing about her being innocent & childish (e.g. being in a stroller). She occasionally thinks the same way about Saki, such as in a school swimsuit, but not as often, probably because Haruka’s focus has shifted toward Kana. Kana’s nervous moments and bits of aloofness are a little better and show her naivety – e.g., panicking that everyone had been abducted by aliens because no one was around one morning – but started to fade in effectiveness for me.

I’ve liked other parts of the show including Hinata leaning her head on her route to notice a certain stock’s price in the window of a securities office (she’s so far failed an entrance exam twice) and the introduction of Mika, voiced appropriately by Rie Kugimiya, who helps distribute a rival publication. The musical elements in the 4th episode were interesting and I enjoyed the mutual relationship Yuuki and Yume have share and the care they show for each other.


I can’t forget to mention to a visual theme of stray cats, from Yume’s love of them to “stray Kana” to the censoring being paws. While that made sense to me almost immediately, the robot that appears in quick sidesweep transitions between scenes – and quickly says phrases I don’t catch – initially confused me until I thought it might be manga-ka Shoko Iwami’s analogue to Akira Kojima’s domino-shaped in Mahoraba – or maybe it’s just something the animation staff decided to put in, I don’t know for sure.

So in conclusion, I don’t hate the series so far but there’s nothing in particular to get to check in weekly – “everything worked out” slice-of-life endings don’t seem to be enough for me. I may go back to it after its run finishes up, though.

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As a fan of the the first anime series and of the originating manga, I was interested in how this new version, FMA Brotherhood, would turn out. I was initially optimistic and I haven’t been disappointed so far after watching the first four episodes (through FUNimation’s video portal, just to clarify).

I like how Brotherhood is running faster than its predecessor. Shou Tucker’s story originally occupied two episodes; it’s now been told in one. A similar condensing happened with Cornello and Lior, with Rose’s “revived” brother and Ed in chains being cut, omissions I’m fine with. The mining town incident with Lt. Yoki was wrapped up in a few lines during an office conversation. I think the Clause/Majihal and the train hostage situation are being passed over entirely for the sake of a quicker storyline, which may be for the better. Those took place before Ed got his State Alchemist title, anyway, and it would benefit the series to not waste time on events of the past and instead focus on the main narrative.

Even though this remake seems “darker” – however you wish to read that – there are still the same moments of humor, e.g., Al being confused as Fullmetal during the brothers’ first appearances and Ed being sensitive about his height.

Something that bothered me about the first series, now that I look back at it, was Michiru Oshima’s orchestral score because it could be overbearing at times, particularly in the last quarter of the series. Akira Senju is handling the soundtrack this time around and though there are some tracks with similar dramatic vamps, there have also been less bombastic ones including a sullen, Middle Eastern-sounding string piece in ep. 3 (15:25-16:37 on Funi’s timecode) when Al was telling Rose about how he came to be a suit of armor. Regarding the opening and ending sequences, I didn’t care for either at first but then I grew to like most of YUI’s “again” – the quick bridge still annoys me a bit.

P.S. Alex Leavitt wrote an interesting post recently about the art design differences between the two series based on their first episodes.

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I have been trying to stay away from others’ detailed first impressions of winter premieres so as to not influence my first viewings of them. Sadly, Twitter is more pervasive in potentially spoiling such things but at least I got a sense of what a segment of the community feels about certain series after only one episode.

In this post, I will provide my short reactions to Akikan!, White Album, Maria Holic, Kurokami, and Asu no Yoichi! – short because earlier reactions from others likely recounted the plots satisfactorily and because I don’t see the need to be garrulous over just the first episodes. In addition, I made a list of commonalities among most of the group that came to mind from watching them all in a row, the exception being Asu no Yoichi!
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Regular meetings for my anime club began last Wednesday and Thursday and while it was a little odd watching the new management running the operation, I figured I would at least get a feel for the larger, slightly newer crowd and also a few series I hadn’t sampled before. What follows are my impressions of what was shown during the first three sessions.
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Podcast Host Todd Haberkorn
One of the main differences between covering anime and covering films or video games is that there is a relatively short lead time – usually 1-3 months – between a title’s production announcement and its airing. Very little information surfaces about the development cycles except for the cast and the basic plot, which hampers the hype potential for most titles with the absence of previews but is likely a result of the quickness with which an anime is produced in Japan.

It takes a bit longer to get things produced for the aftermarket that is America and it has become more important to remind people about which anime are being released and why the purchasing public should care about them. That’s why I was looking forward to the debut of the Funimation Update, a monthly promotional podcast. I don’t listen to many anime podcasts and only occasionally check out Anime Today for the interviews so I figured I would check out this shorter-form, monthly video show. I actually enjoyed watching it as it reminded me of On The Spot (Gamespot’s weekly broadcast show) since the Update alternated between clearly-defined segments and related trailers.
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